Sometimes information come along that doesn’t exactly seem newsworthy, because we already know it. I mean, if Nokia added a webpage touting Angry Birds Space for Windows Phone to their website right this minute, would we have much reason to go shouting about it from the mountains? But not everybody hears every piece of news the first time around, so when it gets reiterated somehow, it becomes new to them.

As such, we’ve received enough tips on a couple of already-known stories lately that we might as well address them now. One: Gameloft’s got a teaser video for their upcoming lineup of Windows Phone 8 games. Two: Microsoft has dedicated a page to Xbox-branded Windows 8 games on their PlayXBLA site. Read on to find out what this all means for you, the faithful Xbox gamer.

Gameloft’s next

Microsoft has recently added a Gameloft teaser video our Windows Phones’ Xbox Spotlight page. You can head to the Xbox/games tile on your phone and then swipe to the left to see the Spotlight page. The video might not show up every time you look at the Spotlight, but return to it enough times and it’ll surely pop up.

Gameloft originally revealed their 12 Windows Phone 8 games (and the teaser video) back at the end of October. The lineup includes several graphically intensive, major franchise titles including The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises, Modern Combat 4, and N.O.V.A. 3. From a technical standpoint alone, each of those games is far beyond any of the currently available Xbox Windows Phone games.

Microsoft sadly refuses to give us a Windows Phone Halo game, so Gameloft's N.O.V.A.3 should hit the spot.

When Gameloft made the announcement, some sites were content to copy and paste the press release and call it a day. But we provided our own impressions of each game in order to help our readers understand their significance. We’re not just here to complain all day, folks! And yes, Windows Phone is currently undergoing an Xbox game release drought, but all 12 Gameloft games are still scheduled to arrive for Windows Phone 8 (not 7) later this year.

Play games on Windows 8

“Hey guyz, did youse know we can Xbox games on Windows 8?”

Yes, like the Windows Phone platform, the Windows 8 Store offers both Xbox-branded games and non-Xbox games. Think of it as the evolution of Microsoft’s failed Games For Windows Live platform. Unlike GFWL titles, Windows 8 Xbox games are limited to 200 GamerScore apiece (as are Windows Phone games). Their prices range from $1.49-$9.99, which some gamers find expensive. But in fairness, Windows 8 game prices tend to be either the same as or lower than Xbox Live Arcade games on 360.

Microsoft’s new Play XBLA landing page for Windows 8 games consists of a multigame trailer and links for 15 Windows 8 Xbox games. Highlights include Skulls of the Shogun, Gunstringer: Dead Man Running, and many other franchises that have graced Windows Phone. By tapping on a games’ image from the website, users can read a short description and follow a link to its Store page.

Microsoft announced every one of the PlayXBLA page’s games back in August and all but Skulls of the Shogun (due out on January 30th) have been available for weeks or months now. The page gathered a lot of interest from viewers and even other tech sites, so its creation certainly wasn’t a bad move. Just don’t mistake it as some new initiative for Windows 8 or Windows Phone. Windows 8 has always had Xbox games and will likely continue to do so in the future.

These games were announced in October I think, the last time high profile games were announced for WP7 it took about 6-12months to come out. Using that, we can probably expect the first games to start appearing in April the earliest.

Well, according to Valve's CEO, Gabe Newell: Windows 8/RT is a "catastrophe" to gamming. He's also considered to be a "Microsoft hater", considering his numerous false claims on Microsoft and their products...

But he stated that before Windows 8 came out and it became more apparent when it was revealed that Valve would start selling software through Steam and moving into hardware. Valve see the Windows 8 store as a threat towards their sales as it is immediately accessible when you start Windows 8. So of course they'd say anything bad about it.

Agreed. But he also slams other Microsoft things too, such as Xbox Live w/o any kind of reason, DirectX, claiming its slower than OpenGL but he was talking about DirectX 9, not 11, compared to the newest OpenGL, etc.

Steam is great but the amount of times Gabe Newell has been wrong about Microsoft is legendary. By the way, Windows 8 users on Steam in a month surpassed the number of Mac Steam users built up over two years. Some "catastrophe."

Later this year means anytime between now and December 31. We could see one of these games in February - we just don't know, nor does Microsoft or Gameloft - otherwise they'd have announced a release date to drum up some hype.

Wow I might have bought a Surface on Release day if they had Gameloft onboard at that time! But now even better to wait for the Surface RT... I love Gameloft games they are one of the best for tablets!

Sorry but I think you got me mixed up with someone that plays games like Shark Dash which isn't a game I would ever play... I am referring to games like "Order and Choas" and going back to my point! If games like that were already set for the Windows Surface not RT I would have purchased it! But now I am willing to spend the extra cash and get a Surface RT or a full blown Windows 8 Tablet!

You've got the Surface pro and Surface RT the wrong way round there :) RT is the one out now which runs the lighter Windows and is cheaper. Pro will be twice the price, run full Windows 8 and be much more powerful. Just in case you accidently asked for the wrong one at the cash register :)

U know what - Each week there must be (At Least) 12 games from XBLA and not during the year !!!! And I don't care if it's hard to put Achievements or not - this is not my problem. If MS team decided to work with Achievements for XBLA Games then they shoud do it Well !!!

Or because it is not profitable for them having to rewrite all the games in C# and XNA in WP7 for such a relatively small market when its much easier and more cost effective for them to port over the C++ code directly to WP8. Don't underestimate the capability of WP7 handsets.

Gabe is a former MS employee. I highly doubt he hates MS, but I'm positive he dislikes W8 and the marketplace\store. He does run his own successful business and he would like it to continue being successful.

Edit: this was supposed to be a reply, and I'm on my Lumia so to lazy to fix it

Hi Bobby, unfortunately we don't support the full passport solution at the moment but once signed in on the site you can click the settings "cog" up top and create a mobile nations password associated with your facebook credentials. You should then be able to log in with that password :)

Yeah like that dorky Rackspace guy who used to work for MSFT. I can't remember his name right now, but he trolls MSFT every chance he gets and then hides behind the fact that he worked for MS as though it means he can't be a troll.

And as soon as they get those games I will be getting me the new Verizon Nokia 9xx. I can't go on without my Modern Combat 4. I can't wait because this will put Windows Phone on the map for sure as being on the same level or above that of Android & iOS because of WP new kernel.

Order & Chaos im looking forward to. The shooters ive tried for Android have made be believe that its impossible to make a shooter that plays well on a touchscreen device. There just seems no way to make two thumbs able to operate fw/back/strafe plus aim plus fire/reload/etc at the same time.

Can't you guys get an interview with someone senior at Microsoft about XBox and Windows Phone? Surely the continuous yes they are / no they aren't on this issue, on here and elsewhere on the web, is enough to make them want to talk to you to clear things up, on the record.
For my part I hypothesise they were right on the limit to get WP8 out in time, hence the late and limited SDK and lack of games. I would expect that if you want high quality games with significant depth (eg Halo) on a new platform, your patience needs to run to more than just a handful of months. It would be nice though instead of speculating or moaning about the current lack, to actually sit down with a Microsoft exec and have them tell you what the deal is.

We've finally connected with a more senior manager who is willing to address the drought for us. I don't think we'll get a full interview, but hopefully it leads to a bit of useful information. We'll share what we've learned on Wednesday.

Just remember 1 thing remember the arrival a few days ago saying teenager's say apple no longer cool suface is in. Fox business says apple no longer cool. I downloaded the steam tile from the store last week.

Or broken achievements! Need to get it right the first time around. Still, nice to see soon fresh titles coming to WP8. Personally I would like to see more racing /flying games that take advantage of this new kernel and gaming platform.